Despite the best of intentions, seventeen-year old, wisecracking Hank Kirby can't quite seem to catch a break. It's not that he means to screw things up all the time, it just happens. A lot. Case in point: his attempt to ask out the girl he likes literally goes up in flames when he spells "Prom" in sparklers on her lawn...and nearly burns down her house.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Peyton Breedlove, a brooding loner and budding pyromaniac, witnesses the whole thing. Much to Hank's dismay, Peyton takes an interest in him-and his "work." The two are thrust into an unusual friendship, but their boundaries are tested when Hank learns that Peyton is hiding some dark secrets, secrets that may change everything he thought he knew about Peyton.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

My Kind of Crazy is an original story with a few serious issues that are very thought-provoking.

Right from the first chapter, I was hooked. It starts off with Hank doing a promposal that unfortunately isn’t successful because the girl’s house almost catches fire. With only this to start off with, I was invested in the story.

The characters: While I liked Hank at the beginning of the story, his personality started dim as the story went on and it was Peyton who took the spotlight, in my opinion. Peyton was someone who seemed so weird from the beginning but I liked her. She brought something to the story and I dare say, helped Hank figure out a lot of things in his life (That’s my personal opinion here. It was how I saw it.). There came a point in the story, kind of the plot twist, where I started to question Peyton and Hank’s friendship. I always saw them as friends and couldn’t really believe the connection they had, seeing as for the majority of the story, it was only Peyton having feelings for Hank and not the other way around. Ultimately, I liked how the story ended for both of them, although the ending did seem uncertain. View Spoiler »They didn’t end up together, which I was totally hoping they wouldn’t. I couldn’t believe the romance for a second. « Hide Spoiler

I really liked the side characters such as Hank’s father, Larry and his girlfriend, Monica. Once again, I questioned Monica’s motives but she ended up being a complete sweetheart!!! Larry had some major character growth in the story…MAJOR! I didn’t think he would change but he so proved me wrong.

While the story started off strong, it slowly started to die down and there were moments where I was really bored. I was expecting the same hilarious note I got at the beginning to last for the remainder of the story. It did have some powerful areas concerning one specific character but the rest kept slowing down. It ended on a good note, uncertain as I mentioned above, but overall it was a good, original story.

About Robin Reul

Robin Reul has been writing since she was in early elementary school, when she used to make her own book club flyers for her classmates and then pen them original stories. At thirteen, she had her first meeting with a major publisher, and the dream of someday being a published author firmly took hold.

As the daughter of a film producer, she spent her childhood on location, growing up on movie sets, and developing a fine appreciation for strong black coffee. She graduated from Boston University with a degree in Broadcasting and Film, and worked for many years in the film and television industry, both as an actress and in motion picture development. One of her favorite jobs was working as an Outreach Assistant for the Disney/PBS show “Bill Nye The Science Guy.” Ultimately, Robin decided to return her focus to writing young adult novels full-time. She likes to write the same sort of stories that helped get her through her teenage years: funny, honest stories filled with quirky, memorable characters that at the end of the read, make you feel like you’ve just had a visit with a good friend.

When she’s not writing, Robin can be found singlehandedly driving up the profit margin of her local Starbucks and indulging her love of baked goods, particularly those in the key of pumpkin. She lives in Los Angeles suburbia with her husband, son and daughter. MY KIND OF CRAZY is her first novel.

Genesis is a 22-year-old girl who lives in Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean. She's obsessed with Instagram (@lattenightsbooks) and coffee shops. When she's not reading or on social media, she can be found eating, at the beach, being with her boyfriend and/or hanging out with friends.

That’s a shame that the book started to fizzle out for you, Gen. I read a book recently where I didn’t want the couple to end up together because I didn’t think they were right for each other at that stage. It felt weird because I’m such a shipper!
I’m not sure if this will be for me, but I appreciate hearing your thoughts!
Lovely review! 🙂

For me, at the beginning I was like, “Let’s see where this goes.” But as the story went on, I realized I didn’t want them together at all. The ending was very uncertain on what happened between them but it felt like they didn’t end up together. It was mostly left to fate? Idk really. It was a bit confusing.
Thank you!